Bladder Cancer: What’s New?- Daniel Petrylak

A state of the art presentation by Daniel Petrylak, MD. on advancements in the treatment of bladder cancer.

Metastatic urothelial bladder cancer is associated with a poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Dr. Petrylak reviews the data on checkpoint inhibition therapy which demonstrates significant antitumor activity in cisplatin treated metastatic urothelial carcinoma. He also discusses the phase II and III trials that are ongoing to confirm initial observations of anti PD-1 and PDL-1 in metastatic urothelial carcinoma. And finally he looks to the future when a thorough understanding of the markers of resistance and response will help to designing trials in earlier disease.

As Professor of Medicine and Urology at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Daniel P. Petrylak is a pioneer in the research and development of new drugs and treatments to fight prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular cancer. For patients fighting these types of cancers, Petrylak finds recent developments in the field of immunotherapy particularly promising. “Up until recently, bladder cancer had not seen any major advancement in more than 30 years,” he says. “Studies are ongoing, but interim results are exciting so far.”At the Smilow Cancer Hospital, Dr. Petrylak’s position as a national leader on clinical trials for men with prostate and bladder cancer has opened up a world of treatment options for patients in New England. “We offer the latest investigational drugs for these conditions, while providing the highest level of care,” he says.Dr. Petrylak received his MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and joined the Yale faculty in 2012. In addition to his role as professor, he is also the co-director of the Signal Transduction Research Program at Yale Cancer Center, which studies how cancer stem cells are regulated in the body and communicate with surrounding tissue. Roughly 40 physicians and scientists in the program work together to develop the best methods for matching patients with the appropriate cancer drugs.One of Dr. Petrylak’s key goals is to continue to successfully translate basic research into clinical practice. “One of the most significant accomplishments in my career was moving docetaxel (an antineoplastic agent) therapy for the most advanced form of prostate cancer from phase I to III,” he says. “We ran a trial which supported its approval for the most advanced form of prostate cancer.”Dr. Petrylak currently serves as either the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on seven Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) clinical trials for genitourinary cancers. To date, he has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles on prostate and bladder cancer research.